Work

Public Long‐Term Care Insurance and Retirement Intentions of Urban Workers: Evidence From China

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: While many studies examine the effects of long-term care insurance (LTCI) on labor supply and retirement behaviors, its effect on retirement intentions-offering certain advantages over actual behaviors-remains unclear. This study applies a difference-in-differences design to estimate the effect of China's public LTCI pilots on urban workers' retirement intentions, based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The results indicate that LTCI significantly increases workers' probability of intending to delay retirement and their intended retirement age, especially for LTCI providing both service and cash benefits. Moreover, the effects are larger among female, self-employed workers, and workers whose family members with LTCI eligibility, as these subgroups are more likely to be caregivers and caregivers' effect is larger. Mechanism analysis reveals that LTCI reduces time support within the family and improves mental health, both of which contribute to delayed retirement intentions. A negative effect through the mitigation of precautionary saving motives by LTCI also exists, but it is subtler.

Source: Health Economics

DOI: 10.1002/hec.4973

Authors: Tianli Yang, Zhong Zhao

Institutions: South China Normal University, Renmin University of China

Language: English

Topic: Retirement, Disability, and Employment

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funder: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities